Apple launches the iTunes Music Store in Australia

The iTunes Music Store in Australia has been launched, and without the backing of Sony BMG. If the history of the Japanese launch repeats itself, Apple may quickly establish itself as the market leader, despite being denied access to around 25 per cent of the world's commercially available music, because of lack of Sony backing.

'There is no place that we have ever launched where music downloads have been strong prior to us,' Eddy Cue, Apple's vice president of Applications, said at the Australian launch.

He said that this is Apple's biggest iTMS launch to date, with over one million tracks available from day one. Around 30 per cent of music sold in Australia is by local acts and Cue said that Apple has worked with a Sydney-based team to ensure that the store is 'built for and by Australians'.